Open Window to Reality
by Sonofthebattle
Summary: Captured and isolated, two turtle brothers lean on each other, and an unlikely source, to get them through the mess that they've become trapped in. RaphDon centric.
1. The Figures in the Dark

Disclaimer: C'mon people, if I owned them, would I be typing, or would I pay someone esle to do it for me? But till I do, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome here I come!

**Open Window to Reality**

**Chapter One: The Figures in the Dark**

The darkness was comforting. It was the first thought that came to his mind as his eyes cracked open. They protested at the effort, attemping to shut on him again. His mind felt muddled, as though he couldn't remember what had happened. He felt...open. Alone. As though a window had opened and was letting the cold air in and he was powerless to stop it. The sharp feeling of pain brought him back to reality as he struggled to move. His hand fell for his side, toppling him over in the process. His arm had been supporting his weight, and removing it caused him to fall.

He drew in a quick breath sharply as he fell, crying out softly at the pain that tremored through his body as he made contact with the floor. He defensively began to curl into a ball, but the darkness was back, ebbing it's way into his vision. He couldn't want to fight it. He didn't want to fight it. He welcomed it with open arms, waiting for it to take him back into sweet sleep.

A movement to his left caught his attention briefly.

The sound of a unfamilar voice put him on high alert, even if he felt down for the count. He had a gawning need to stay awake, and investigate. He lifted his eyes to the sky, albeit keeping his head on the ground, and tried to concentrate on the object that was closing in on him. It was large, and dark. That was all he could tell. If it was a enemy or not, he couldn't tell. It's stance was neither inviting nor threatning. It closed it slowly and he could make out a slight conversation that it was having with it's companion, but only bits and pieces of what they said.

"...large...hard to contain..."

"Yes, but....money....lots of it...."

"...two of them....not yet...smaller....more built..."

Attemping to listen to the cheap talk was difficult and he was so very tired. He tried to yawn, but felt to light-headed to move. The dark figure moved closer, obviously thinking he was asleep. He felt asleep. He tried to shoot it a glare, but his eyelids shut tight. He felt a slight touch on his shoulder, but he couldn't tell if it was the figure or the breeze.

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**Yes, I whole-heartedly apologize, that was WAY too short! I'm sorry guys, but it's a teaser! If you want more, review and let me know!**

**- PM06**


	2. Taunt

**Open Window to Reality**

**Chapter 2: Taunt**

--

_Ouch._

It was the first thought to pass Raphael's mind. A very appropriate and fitting word for what he was feeling right now. He immediatly tried to grip his left arm, the blood felt as though it was pounding through it. The stabbing pain that shot through his side nearly sent him over, and he gasped as he fell heavily on it. He tried to clear his mind as he lay on the floor.

_"Where the crap am I?" _he wondered silently, the thoughts screaming at him to get up and explore. He thought he remembered, but then again he didn't. His thoughts were a puddle of water, seeping away slowly and away from his grasp. He tried to absorb his thoughts, tried to suck they back in like a vaccum, but he couldn't...couldn't..._remember._ What the crap couldn't he _remember?_

The throbing ache in his head popped some sense back into his mind and he felt clearer for a millisecond.

_"Concussion." _he recalled, feeling bleary and like he wanted to retch. He hated concussions. You could never remember anything useful, except for the fact that you had a concussion. It stank. It just royally stank.

But it couldn't be just the concussion that had kept him out and confused. He'd had concussions before, and they'd never affected him like this. The aching and stiffness of his sore muscles told him that he'd been out for a fair amount of time. And something with that just didn't compute. Wow, big words. He, Raphael, could NOT be kept down. Not by a Dragon, not by rules, regulations, orders, Leo, Splinter, life, injury and certainly not from a bump to the head.

_"Musta been hit pretty hard,"_ he mussed silently until he took a good look at his arm and felt his upper arm carefully. It answered all his questions. There was a tiny puncture wound, hardly visible to the human eye, but he could feel the dull ache from where a needle would have been inserted and the contents emyptied into his system. He started out into the dark room, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness. Their was pure silence and pitch black darkness, and he tried to place what had happened earlier. They were on a training run...maybe? Yeah, they had to have been, 'cause Leo had been a total pain in the rear about practice. They'd paired off in...two groups? Yeah, him and Don. Then they took off, and...

Wait a minute.

Don?

Good Lord, was Don with him when all this happened? Yeah, he had to have been. Memory was black after that. Then, where the heck was Don? Where was his younger brother?

Panic began to knot around his empty stomach as he gropped slowly in the dark, then faster when he felt nothing but cold air. Where was his younger brother? Had he been with him when...whatever the heck what happened? Had he gotten away? Was he safe? _Where was he?_

As indecision ran rampant through his muddled mind, he suddenly heard a definite _click _and whipped his head as fast as he could to where a crack of light was seeping through the black wall. A light that hadn't been there before. Raph closed his eyes in a half squint, in preperation for blinding white light that he was sure was coming. A voice, an unknown voice, echoed through the room.

"Good morning, little freak. Or should I say big freak? Yeah, definitly the second one..." Raph's head snapped up and tried to locate the sorce of the voice. A dark shadow at the end of the room that hadn't been there a second ago seemed to be the most likely source, right? Hoping his delirous mind was not playing tricks on him, Raph locked his eyes with the figure.

"Who the heck are you?"

The man, he assumed, just grinned. "Hey, that's no way to treat your new best friend, it is animal?" Raph's anger flared with a burning fire at the 'animal' refrence, and he guessed the man could tell because his erie laughter echoed through the chamber.

"Hey, don't get uptight," he chuckled with amusement. "You really don't want me to get short with you," he continued seriously, his voice taking on a more clipped and short tone. "Wouldn't want to have a _unforunate_ accident with my other newest playtoy."

Already on the alert, Raph snapped to. Another captive? What? That meant...oh Lord no, that meant...

"Well, that knock to the head didn't hurt cha too bad. Think the drug still in your system, though, so don't think about gettin' up and attackin' me, 'cause you'll go back down twice as hard. Just don't even think 'bout it."

Not one to be challenged, Raph made a show of looking as nonpulssed as possible and snorting. "Yeah? So what if I do?"

"Then," the man grinned a knowing grimace, as though he knew something the teenager didn't. He reached from behind what Raph assumed was a door, and dragged a lump out. Raph's hazy mind worked quickly as it could to clear the fuzzy lines around it, but when it did, he nearly recoiled back in shock and fury.

The madman smirked, watching his captive's reaction. "Keep the 'smart 'alick head on your shoulders, boy, and I don't hurt him any more than I already have." He grinned again, considering his words to the turtle carefully. "Or, anymore than I already want to."

Raph tightened his fisted automatically, wishing to rush his captor, but his legs wouldn't work right. The man turned and dropped the body to the floor.

"See you boys later," he called back cheerfully over his shoulder, slaming the door with a defining _click_ as he left. A small light flickered on at the top of the chamber. Raph's blurry eyes blinked until he felt his normal sight returning, and willed himself to look at the figure on the floor.

He nearly gasped aloud at the sight of Donatello, _Donnie_, lying motionless and bloody in a heap on the floor.

--

_A/N: Yes! I finally posted more for this story! I got so many lofty reviews and requested to keep going that I figured it was worth it. Sorry to keep my faithful readers waiting, and please give me more feedback!_


	3. Fire of the Mind

**Open Window to Reality**

**Chapter 3: Fire of the Mind**

--

_Oh dear Lord._

For a second, he could only stare in horrified shock at his younger brother. In his mind, he was frightened to get any closer than he already was to Don. But within the second, all thought of _keeping his distance_ fled his mind and he bolted as fast as his druggy legs could carry him. He felt as though he was running on air, nearly gasping aloud again as his legs gave out as he reached Don's side and dropped like a leaden stone beside his brothers body. He couldn't make out chest movement in the limited light, so he reached out and located his brother's slender arm, and gasped with sudden relief when he deteched a faint, but readable pulse.

Good God, how had they gotten here? Where was here? There were vauge, fuzzy memories of a conflict, a fight, maybe? He couldn't remember. He reached about his waist, searching for his sais, and let loose an huff of frustrated air as he discovered, expectedly, that they were gone. He'd have to rely on his brains to get the two of them out of this obviously dangerous situation, and that fact made his stomach sink. It figured he and Don were here, stuck with the smartest of their squad, and he couldn't do a thing. But that was assuming Leo and Mikey weren't nearby as well, and he hoped to God that they weren't. Bad enough the two of them were here. His other brother's, he hoped, were out there looking for them.

A quiet moan drew Raph from his mumbled thoughts and back to the current problem at hand.

As slow as he could manage, he drew Don's smaller form into his lap, settling his head in the crook of his arm as he was able to feel the temors coarsing through his body. Don was either really cold, or in a lot of pain, and Raph pleaded with his mind for the former, but knew that it was unlikely. The unknown man's cruel voice haunted in the back of his mind, dripping with a sneering, self confidence.

_You just wait till I get outta here, buddy._ The anger kindling in his mind for their one known captor (there had to be other's, right? No one-man show could have orchestrated this...) was like a hot fire, burning through any rational thoughts and leaving his eyes red and his mind black. For a moment, he forgot the damp, dark, cold of the cell, his brother's slight breath, his own fatigue, and saw the firery depths of his own mind emerge from the black, flashing like the lights of the city in front of his unfocused eyes. It was something to lose himself in, occupy the blank, and he drifted for a moment in the liquid fire, which seemed so much more soothing than the frigid reality he knew was awaiting him. And he knew that he couldn't wait for long.

A long shudder from below caught his attention and doused the fire like a bucket of water. His heart turned to ice, and he finally took a good, long, look at his brother.

His body was clearly battered, and from the feel of it, exhausted. It had sunk in Raph's arms like a ton of lead, but at the same time, was thin and light. Don had always been the smallest and the lighest, a tribute to his eating habits which tendered to be more conservative than that of his other brothers, but never like _this. _He might have always been slight, lighter, but he was always _healthy_. The numerous cuts and brusies that he could feel was a slight cause for worry as well, as there was many of them, but it wasn't what troubled him the most.

What currently had his highest attention, and widest horror, was the two large gashs, one on the right arm and one on the left leg, that were still bleeding freely. And looked as though they had been for some time.

_Sweet forces..._

He gingerly reached a trembling hand down, tracing the curve of the gash, trying to gauge the seriousness of the inflicted injury. They were extremly similar, solidifiying his belief that they were purposely inflicted. Both were roughly eight to ten inches long _(good God, that large?...)_, and, as much as Raph was fighting to admit it, deep. Deep and roughly cut, jagged edges, and from the warm, wet feeling that was spreading from where his hand probed the wound, bleeding steadily. He sucked in a quick breath, trying to gather his wits, think of a plan, a course of action, a way to get them out of her, stop the bleeding, make Don wake up, _anything._

He'd settle for the last one, though. Gently, he tipped his younger brother's head back for they were face to face, and wished feverently for Don to just open his eyes. _Come on Donnie, ya know I'm not good at crap like this, ya know it and your a doin it just to make me freak out and you can laugh, come on Donnie, I'm not the brains here, you are, I _need _you to wake up, come on Don, come on..._

"Donnie?"

His soft, almost, _almost_, shaky voice sounded foreign even to himself. _You're really gonna scare the crap outta Don, you moron. He's really gonna think something's gone wrong..._

And he was both delighted and mortified to see Don's soft brown, familiar, and yet horribly confused and pain-filled eyes, force open and fix on him.

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_A/N: I am a horrible person for not having updated this in....*cringe*...months? Lots and lots of months. *cringe again and slink away* Just, read and review? And don't kill me. My new horse is taking up WAY too much of my time. Blame her. :)_


	4. Bleary and Bloody

_A/N: Oh my gosh guys, I'm a horrible person!!! I haven't updated this is ages!!! __L__ I feel awful, 'cause you guys give these great reviews and I feel awful that I'm so slow at updating this story! But for good news, those awesome reviews that you guys give inspires me to continue this story till it's finished, so give yourselves a big pat on the back for that one, thanks lots!! I will definitely be trying to update more regularly from now on, and with summer around the corner that's a definite possibility. Drop another review for this chapter, and thanks!_

_--_

**Open Window to Reality**

**Chapter 4: Bleary and Bloody**

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It was, he later decided, the most desolate, horrible feeling he'd ever experienced. He could handle anger, fear, personal pain, jealousy or annoyance. He could handle a lot, if he really thought about it. Growing up in the big Apple could do that to you. You see and experience things that you think will break you, know that it will break you. But when you're actually put into that position, you have to withstand it; have to make it through because it's just _survival. _You can get to a point where you don't think about it, you just act. At least, that's what all those big-time actors in action movies that Mikey's so utterly fond of say. Leo likes them too, but he always makes up some vulgar excuse when Raph asks him about it, usually some bullcrap about it being useful to study other fighting techniques, something like that. And then Don will laugh at them all, and they'll....

_Don._

The helpless feeling washed over him again, as Don's unsteady eyes tried to focus with his. God, but he's never seen his brother like this before. This confused and delusional. Don's always in control of the situation. Always. He's the brains, he and Leo make the plans, and Raph executes them. That's just the way it is. The way it always has been. And now, sitting here in the force-forsaken, dark and cold cell in the middle of who-knows-where, Raphael's total perspective of life seemed to have been turned upside down on its head and he wasn't exactly sure what to do.

God, who's he trying to kid? He has _no idea_ what to do.

He runs a nearly shaking hand down his younger brother's plastron, and forces himself to meet Don's eyes, even though Don doesn't exactly seem to know he's there.

"Donnie?"

He _needs_ a response. Not merely wants, needs. He wishes, desperately, that Leo were here. Leo, for all his perfectness acting and arrogant, pain in the butt behavior, would have reassured him, told him it was okay even if it wasn't. He certainly wouldn't not answer; he wouldn't _worry_ Raph sick like this, because he knows Raph doesn't function like that. Raph functions better with normality, and normality is the furtherest thing from this moment.

"Don."

The sharp, insistent tone he uses there actually draws a response, because Don learned from a very young age to always heed that voice, and if you didn't, something bad might be around the corner because Raph didn't use that voice for show, he meant business. The younger turtle fixated his blurry eyes on his older brother, confusion the only clear emotion in his gaze. Well, that and pain. But Raph didn't want to think about pain.

"Raph?" Don's soft, cracked voice is a testament to how truly broken he is on the outside. Raph doesn't want to dwell on the fact that his brother's voice is also a testament to how weak his is, how much blood he's already lost....

His brother. His _younger _brother.

"Hey," Raph allows himself a small smile, an attempt to ease his brother's anxiety and confusion that he can plainly feel himself. Don's soft brown eyes where raft with pain. "Wha…" he mumbled slowly, his eyes trailing down to what he could see of his battered body. He tried to raise an arm, but was unable, the exhaustion impairing his limbs. So he looked back to Raph again. "Wha…what happened?" he muttered, voice nearly broken.

Raph worked to swallow the hard lump in his throat. "Well, I was kinda hopin' you could tell me that, Branic," he admitted. "Seems I don't remember what happened all too well either," he confused, bringing his free hand unconsciously up to the head and rubbing where the pain was the greatest still.

Even in his current state, Don noticed. "What's w-wrong with your he-head?" he mumbled, more coherently than before. Raph could almost see the cogs in his turning, trying to remember and put the pieces together, desperately.

"I think it's a concussion," Raph sighed, bringing his hand back down. "Mutsa hit it on somthin' pretty hard."

"Harder than your own head?"

That was Don, going for humor, trying to alleviate the worry he could see in Raph. Selfless and compassionate.

Raph went for the smile again. "Yeah."

He brought his hand down to cup around his younger brother's head. Don's eyes started to drift shut, sliding back down into oblivion. The red banded turtle used his other hand to inspect the long gashes, relieved to find that the blood flow was being to slow. However, he could see in the small amount of offered light, the usual pallor of Don's skin, a sign of what the loss of blood was doing to him internally.

Raph leaned his head back, swore silently, and willed the rage to go away. He wouldn't be useful to the situation if he was teeming with fury; he needed to be calm and collected, for Don's sake.

_Where is Leo when I really need him?_

Don suddenly gasped aloud and jerked in Raph's grasp, involuntary. Raph immediately jerked his hand away from the tender wound. He'd probed too far. Which was horribly discomforting, since he'd done little more than trace the ugly gash, trying to truly gauge just _how_ serious it was.

Don's breathing had increased, and he was now practically panting, trying to gain his composure back. "Sorry," Raph said apologetically. "Ya got some nasty marks here, Don."

"..Knew…knew, something wasn't..wasn't quite r-right," Don stuttered out, his normally precise, articulated and carefully spoken statements jumbled and hard to decipher. If Raph hadn't been worried before, he sure as shell was now. Don _never_ talked like this.

Raph frowned. "Hey, try not to talk."

Don turned his head to his older brother, rather than hiding it in Raph's arm. "W-where…i-is, are..the oth-thers?" he weakly questioned, coughing unevenly into the stale air at the end.

Raph shook his head. _Didn't I just ask you not to talk?_ "Don, try _not_ to talk. Yer gonna scare me, garblin' on like that." He shifted his younger brother in his arms, suddenly aware of the tremors in Don's body, the ice cold feel of his skin. "They're not here, thank god. I'm hopin' they're on the outside of whatever crap hole we're locked into, and workin' on some way to get in here and get us out." _Cause I can't deal with this on my own. I can't be the smart and the leveled head one. God, I can't do this by myself…_

Don opened his mouth to speak more, but shut it again at Raph's insistent _Don't-Cha-Dare-Defy-Me-Older-Brother_ glare. "M'kay," he mumbled, letting his leery head fall to one side and drifting back to sleep or unconsciousness Raph wasn't sure which, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He was just starting to examine the wounds again when a creaky sound filled the chamber, Raph's senses flipped to full alertness and a blinding light cascaded from the other end of the room.

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_A/N: Yay for updating! __J__ Read and Review please!! Thanks guys!! I will definitely try to be better at reposting in the future!_


	5. Green Like Grass

_A/N: My God, I have neglected this story. Just…abandoned. I feel awful O_O Well, the muse is staring to recharge, so I'm gonna see if we can't get this ball rolling! I tried to clean up some of my earlier stories and whatnot, deleted some really old stuff, and have new stuff on the way! I've really gotten sucked into Supernatural fandom, so be on the lookout for some stuff from me pretty soon! I've started drafting a story that's major AU, but it's still in the beginning stages. The muse is really kicking on that one though, so be ready! As always, read and review __ Do let me know of any grammatical or spelling errors, I'm sure there are tons, ugh. No beta, so this is all self-edited, and I suck at that._

_**Open Window to Reality**_

_**Chapter 5: Green Like Grass**_

**Characters: Raph, Don**

**Genre: Family, H/C, Drama**

**Rating: PG**

**Spoilers: None**

In retro-respect, he's not sure how they've actually lasted this long in the first place. It's not even his _friggin' place_ to be wondering about how they're still alive, still kickin' and where the next meal is coming from cause isn't that Leo the worry wart's fault? His usual façade is just to sit back and let time and place rule his actions, living in the moment, acting on impulse and going with the wind. In fact, he's pretty sure there's a song somewhere that says something eerily close to that, or Don or Leo or somebody told him something close to that in the past, cause there's no way he's that philosophical in thinking about himself. He just acts. It's easier that way, take the situation at hand and act in a way to make it better. It's simpler that way, and didn't somebody say once that the present was what mattered and only actions counted? Of course, he's pretty sure Don told him at one point or another that somebody also said to look before you jump or some bullcrap like that, but that doesn't really matter right now. Nothing really matters right now, except for the lifeless pile in his lap that is his younger brother and the obvious _threat_ that smirking in the doorway encased all that friggin' light.

The man, (and it's the just freaking _annoying_ that he doesn't even know who the _heck_ this guy is or what he wants,) just stares at him, almost through him in a _really _creepy kinda way, and it's something of a predatory grin. It's like a cat with a caged mouse, a hunter with a broken deer. And Raph feels bloody _trapped_ and that just doesn't sit well with him at all. He might actually relish this opportunity in another situation, where he can put himself up against the odds and just wreak havoc without Leo barking in his ear, but…

But.

For the first time in a long time, he _couldn't _be reckless or arrogant or selfish in action, and all the reminder that he needed of that was the crusting blood on his hands were he had them stuffed on Don's shoulder injury, the nastier looking of the two, just trying to staunch the flow of blood. And what was more worrying than the fact that he was pressing, pressing _hard_ on what was obviously a tender and inflamed and _painful_ wound, was that his younger brother didn't so much as make a sound or move a muscle in response.

Talk about terrifying.

"Enjoying your stay so far?" the (still-unknown) figure threw across the distance between them. His voice was smug, astute, and oddly high pitched. From the build and voice, there was no way he was even above twenty-five, twenty-seven at the most, Raph guessed. Weird.

There wasn't much to say to this punk, 'cept for maybe _get me the heck out of here_,so he stayed as motionless as possible, bringing his other arm to wrap around Don's back, shielding his younger brother with his arms as much as possible. _Don't you dare look at him._

The young man just chuckled. "Not doing too good is he?" and _that_ nearly brought a growl from the red-banded turtle's throat. "Can't say that I'm all that sorry about that, you know. I'm not usually," he gestured idly to his suit, _his suit?_ and dress shoes. _What tha- _"I'm not usually in this kind of, well…_business._ But, you know," he took the pause to pointedly brush a nonexistent hair from the shoulder of his jacket. "Desperate measures and all."

_And just what gives you the friggin' right, you scumbag-_

"Oh, it wasn't all that hard you know," he continued on, looking over his shoulder and then back again., fixing his eyes of indistinct color on Raph and lowering it to Don. He chuckled again when Raph narrowed his eyes in return, curling his younger brother even more into his hold.

"Not going say anything at all reptile?" _Nah, I'd prefer to let you keep monologuing like a stuck-up frat-tard and hang yer own neck. _"I don't like to work…_under_ people you know. I prefer to do my own work. But the market is fresh to us college graduates, and well, the political battle is one to be won in the market. How could I not jump at the opportunity to work with someone with such close ties to the President himself?" _God, you don't mean-_

"Agent Bishop himself." _Way to give away your boss's name. Idiot. Usually you gotta torture people for information like that._ "He brought us on as insurance you know." _No, I didn't know ya moron. Why don't cha just keep tellin' me- _"It was never really his plan to hire a security team headed by a fresh grad. A greenie, if you will. But, I guess you could say," he lifted those creepy eyes that would give even his new boss a run for their money and grinned. "He must just have an eye for talent."

_A/N: Gah, that was short. *buries head* And after making you poor guys wait so long! More to come! I'm not exactly sure where this story is going, the muse is still making up its mind, so give ideas if you want! I live to please __ Hate the random OC? Like him? I'm not even sure how I feel about him at this point, so send feedback! Thanks for sticking with me and this story!_


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